Poll: De Blasio Takes 23-Point Lead, Could Avoid Runoff

“Can Public Advocate Bill de Blasio keep his surge going for seven more days? If he does, his first contribution could be to the New York City budget — saving the expense of a run-off election,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Dante’s big Afro is the campaign image everyone remembers. What a TV commercial! What a boost with everyone who has kids! What a plus in the black community!”

Quinn is being hurt by the fact that so far, she hasn’t cashed in as the only woman in the race, Kramer reported.

Among women, the poll shows de Blasio 44 percent of the vote, Thompson with 19 percent and Quinn garnering support from 18 percent of those surveyed.

Another key factor is the vote in the black community. Thompson is the only black candidate in the race.

Pundits expect minorities will be 30 percent of the primary turnout, Kramer reported.

The poll shows that among blacks, de Blasio has the support of 47 percent of those surveyed, compared with 25 percent for Thompson and 6 percent for Quinn.

Shortly after the poll was released, de Blasio’s campaign released the following statement:

“New Yorkers are responding to Bill de Blasio’s bold progressive vision to break from the Bloomberg years and end the Tale of Two Cities that we’re living. Tonight, you will see one candidate offer bold progressive ideas, while the others desperately try to tear him down by distorting his record.”

“With his liberal platform, de Blasio would be a tempting target for Joseph Lhota and the Republicans, if the race works out that way,” Carroll said.

Quinnipiac University surveyed 750 likely Democratic primary voters by telephone from Aug. 28 to Sept. 1. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.6 percentage points. Quinnipiac also interviewed 101 likely Republican primary voters by phone during the same time period, with a margin of error of +/- 9.8 percentage points.

The unpredictable campaign, which has featured three different front-runners in as many months, will go into the home stretch with a clear dynamic: de Blasio has maintained his lead, and the other candidates are fighting for the second spot in a likely runoff.

Democratic Mayoral Hopefuls Continue Attacks Ahead Of Final Debate

Quinn and Thompson are within a point or two of each other for that second slot, according to recent polls. They are both far behind de Blasio, yet they have trained the majority of their recent attacks, including at the last debate, on him and not on each other.

Democratic Mayoral Hopefuls Continue Attacks Ahead Of Final Debate

Quinn was on the attack again Tuesday, WCBS 880’s Alex Silverman reported. She was critical of the public advocate’s acceptance of campaign contributions from owners on his Worst Landlords list.

“It appears Bill de Blasio’s Worst Landlord list was really just a fundraising list,” Quinn said on Tuesday. “It leaves a clear question of who was he fighting for and what was this list really about.”

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“He raise roughly $54,000 from bad landlords who had been on his Worst Landlords list,” said Quinn. “Once again, Bill de Blasio says one thing and does another. He says he was fighting for the little guy, fighting for tenants and then he went off and turned to the so-called bad guys, the slumlords, for campaign contributions.”

But the de Blasio campaign calls that representation distorted and added two of the landlords on the list contributed to the Quinn campaign, 1010 WINS’ Juliet Papa reported.